Wood on Words: Get your fix'

A common explanation for the lack of progress on a problem is that there’s no “quick fix.” Actually, there’s ample evidence that our problem-solvers resort to quick fixes much too often.

Barry Wood

A common explanation for the lack of progress on a problem is that there’s no “quick fix.” Actually, there’s ample evidence that our problem-solvers resort to quick fixes much too often.

As Webster’s Dictionary defines it, a “quick fix” is “an easy and expedient solution or remedy, especially one producing results that are temporary, illusory or counterproductive.” That last part rings a bell or two, doesn’t it?

We get a lot of mileage out of the word “fix,” whose root is the Latin “fixus,” past participle of the verb “figere,” meaning “to fasten, attach.”

The first handful of definitions in Webster’s reflects those original notions:

“To make firm, stable or secure” –– to fix a mirror to a wall, or to fix any “fixture,” for that matter.

“To set firmly in the mind,” –– a fixed idea, which, when taken to the extreme, becomes an obsession (as with the French term “idee fixe”).

“To direct steadily” — to fix one’s gaze.

“To make rigid or stiff” — let’s go with Webster’s example of a fixed jaw.

“To make permanent or lasting” — as when using dye.

“To arrange or establish definitely” — Prince William and Kate Middleton just a few days ago fixed
the date for their wedding.

“To arrange properly or in a certain way” — as when someone fixes your tie.

That’s a fairly full plate, but there’s much more, including fixing food to put on other plates.

When things have been damaged or just aren’t working properly, it’s time to fix them — or get new ones. Special terms related to this one are “fix-it,” informal for “of or having to do with fixing or repairing things,” and “fixer-upper,” informal for “a house in poor repair but suitable for restoration, that is for sale at a bargain price.”

Then there are the informal uses:

“To influence the result or action of (a horse race, jury, election, etc.) to one’s advantage by bribery,
trickery, etc.” This kind of fixing is illegal — or should be if it isn’t.

“To revenge oneself on; get even with; punish or chastise.” It is often expressed in a threat such as “I’ll fix you!” In the 1940s, according to “American Slang,” this was expanded to the phrase “fix someone’s wagon” — not as nice as it might sound.

When dealing with animals, “to spay or castrate.” That’s fixing to prevent something from working.

And as a noun, “a difficult or awkward situation” — to be “in a fix.”

A couple of slang uses also are worth noting:

“A clear understanding or evaluation,” as in “to get a fix on,” which “American Slang” dates to 1902.
And, beginning in the 1930s, “fix” as “an injection of a narcotic, as heroin, by an addict.”